Linda Marienhoff Coss - What Else is to Eat?: The Dairy-, Egg-, and Nut-Free Food Allergy Cookbook

What Else is to Eat?

The Diary-, Egg-, and Nut-Free

Food Allergy Cookbook

Linda Marienhoff Coss

Lake Forest, California

www.FoodAllergyBooks.com

WHAT ELSE IS TO EAT?

THE DAIRY-, EGG-, AND NUT-FREE

FOOD ALLERGY COOKBOOK

Plumtree Press/September, 2008

All rights reserved.

Copyright 2008 by Linda Marienhoff Coss

Cover Design by 1106 Design

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by law or in writing from the publisher, or except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper.

Permission should be addressed in writing to: or Plumtree Press, P.O. Box 1313, Lake Forest, California 92609-1313.

Although the author and publisher have strived to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this book, we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2008923963

ISBN 978-0-9702785-4-8

I dedicate this book to my children,

Jason and Kevin,

who have grown up into

such fine young men,

and to you,

the reader,

who has allowed me

into your kitchen

and your life.

Whats to Eat?

The Milk-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free Food Allergy Cookbook

How To Manage Your Childs Life-Threatening Food Allergies

Practical Tips For Everyday Life

I would like to thank my children, Jason and Kevin, for their patience with all of my kitchen experimentation (when you look back on your childhood youll always remember the 4-star recipe rating system); my parents, for everything; Scott Greenberg, for all of his love, support, and encouragement; all of my recipe testers, including Jennifer Bingham, Alisa Fleming, Scott Greenberg, Diana Marienhoff, and more; Ruth Greenberg and Diana Marienhoff for their editing assistance; and all of the people who purchased my first cookbook and encouraged me to write a second.

The information contained in this book is not intended to replace the advice of your physician, nor is it meant to replace medical diagnosis or treatment. If you have or suspect that you have food allergies, you are strongly urged to seek out appropriate medical advice. If you are already under the care of a physician for your food allergies, be sure to discuss with him or her any changes that you intend to make in your diet.

If you or someone that you are cooking for suffers from severe food allergies, it is imperative that you check the ingredient statement of each item that you use in your cooking in order to ensure that the item does not contain any food allergens. This must be done every time that the item is purchased, as food manufacturers often change their ingredients without notice. In addition, you must be sure that any open containers of food to be used in your cooking have not been contaminated with a food allergen. For example, a jar of jelly which does not have any dairy, egg, or nut ingredients listed in its ingredient panel will contain peanut if at some point in time a knife that had peanut butter on it had been placed in the jelly jar; in this case, the jelly should not be eaten by a person who has peanut allergy.

No promises or warranties, express or implied, as to the appropriateness of any food or recipe for a particular persons diet is made by this book. No liability will be assumed by anyone affiliated with the writing, production, or distribution of this book for any damages arising from the preparation or consumption of the foods described herein, whether such losses are special, incidental, consequential, or otherwise.

The reader accepts sole responsibility for the use of the information contained in this book.

Its been 16 years since I began my food allergy journey, and a lot has changed since then. When I first started on this road it was a very lonely and uncrowded place. Few people (including, it seemed, most medical professionals) had heard of life-threatening food allergies, and everyone thought I had gone off the deep end when I explained the sorts of precautions I had to take to keep my son safe.

Almost no resources were available, the internet didnt exist (or if it did no one in the general public had heard of it), food manufacturers werent required to include ingredient panels on their packaging at all, and the Americans with Disabilities Act was so new that it was not yet widely enforced. With no maps to guide the way, the food allergy road was a very difficult road to travel.

Well, that sleepy little food allergy road has now become a traffic-choked food allergy highway. Although it is still a very difficult road to travel, there are now maps, guidebooks, news reports, and lots of fellow travelers with whom to share the journey. In fact, so many children now have life-threatening food allergies that the topic is regularly in the news, food labeling laws have been passed specifically to help the food-allergic, and school districts across the country have been forced by necessity to create policies to cope with the issue.

My own life, of course, has changed as well. As I write this, my food-allergic son is awaiting his college acceptance letters. It fact, it was the realization that he would soon be moving out of the house (and that I, theoretically, could dust off my long-forgotten recipes for quiche and cashew chicken) that motivated me to finally finish this book!

As you may know, What Else is to Eat? is the sequel to my first cookbook, Whats to Eat? To be honest, when I put the finishing touches on that book I told my friends that I was through creating recipes and I was never doing this again. Ha! Ha! Never say never! I gave it up for a whileI poured my energy into writing and self-publishing another book, How To Manage Your Childs Life-Threatening Food Allergies: Practical Tips For Everyday Lifeand then I started experimenting in the kitchen once again.

When I created the recipes for Whats to Eat? I was a stay-at-home mom with two little boys. Now Im a working mom (yes, I do have a day job Im a freelance marketing copywriter) with two teenage boys. My life has become much more hectic, and like many people, the time that I have available to devote to cooking has shrunk. If you have both of my cookbooks, you probably wont mind that this one has an even greater emphasis on fast and easy, especially in the dinner department.

To those of you who may object to the fact that not all of my recipes (in either of my cookbooks) are toddler friendly, Ill apologize now. The reality is that not all food allergy sufferers are small children, and there is a big need for delicious hypoallergenic recipes that are suitable for a variety of diners and occasions. Besides, even those with small children often choose to make their entire home allergen-free and sometimes need ideas for what to serve at more adult-oriented events!

So here for your enjoyment is a whole collection of kitchen-tested recipes for wonderful food that happens to be dairy-, egg-, and nut-free. Whether youre just starting off on your food allergy journey or a seasoned traveler, I sincerely hope that this collection of recipes helps make coping with food allergies just a little bit easier for you.